Dresden, Germany

(Click on the above collage to see all the pictures from my trip.)

This past week I got to spend a week in Germany for a customer event. It was my first trip away from "home" in Taipei and it was an odd feeling flying in and out of my new home airport, which is not in the U.S. for the first time in a long time.

I haven't been to too many places in Europe - well I guess it's all relative as many people haven't been to Europe at all. Germany and Ireland, however, are my favorites so far as they really feel like the "old country". I'd still like to visit Italy and Greece at some point.

I spent a few days in Munich (home to our Germany office) and then flew over to Dresden for the remainder of my time there. Dresden is actually in what was once known as East Germany. Here are some other factoids about Dresden that I found in Wikipedia:

• It is the capital of the state of Saxony
• It was the target of (now) controversial fire-bombings during World War II
• The Kurt Vonnegut novel, Slaughterhouse Five, is based on his witnessing of the World War II bombings in Dresden
• Dresden was originally a slavic settlement founded in the 12th century
• Vladimir Putin was the KGB chief in Dresden from 1985-1990
• The Frauenkirche ("Church of Our Lady") is a Lutheran church that was all but destroyed in World War II but has since been rebuilt (completed in 2005)
• Martin Luther delivered one of the first Protestant sermons there in 1515/1517
• Saxony was the first state to officially introduce the Reformation

All in all it was a good trip. I had no idea that I would have the opportunity to witness such historic buildings so it was a good surprise. Now that I've been reading about Dresden it is very cool to think of how much history has occurred in that little town.

This buff dude flanks the entry-way of the Dresden city gates.



The historic Frauenkirche. It's hard to believe that in 1991 it looked like this. If you look closely at this picture (click on it to see it full size), you can see some of the original bricks (they are darker) and on the left side of this picture you can see the only part of the structure that was still standing.

The original building was completed in 1743. In 1736 the organ was installed and Johann Sebastian Bach gave a recital a few days later.



There is a statue honoring Martin Luther outside the Frauenkirche.



One of the entrances to the Frauenkirche.



This is a view of the backside of the Hofkirche, which is a Roman Catholic cathedral that was completed in 1751.